UTEP women’s basketball (3-0, 0-0 Conference USA) hosted the Texas Southern University Tigers (0-4, 0-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) Wednesday Nov. 16 at the Don Haskins Center. The Miners beat Texas Southern with a final score of 80-65.
The Miners took an early lead by going on a 6-2 run led by freshman guard Soleil Montrose as she took five of the first eight shots in the beginning of the first quarter. Texas Southern was able to make a bit of a comeback by going on a run of its own led by freshman guard Kamryn Bates. The first quarter, UTEP and Texas Southern battled as each team traded shots, bringing the game to a tie at one point. Montrose continued to dominate for the Miners on offense as the Miners went on a 17-4 run nearing the end of the first quarter.
“Soleil (Montrose) is a freshman, but she had a breakout game,” UTEP Head Coach Kevin Baker said in a post-game interview. “This is something that she can do. This is not going to be a one-time occurrence for her. You are going to see performances like that from her going forward. She’s a very talented young lady. We are very fortunate that she chose UTEP.”
In the second quarter, the Miners went 10-of-16 from the floor as the team continued to outscore Texas Southern. The Tigers were able to bring down the deficit by going on an 8-2 run with the help of sophomore guard Alisa Knight. However, UTEP went on a 17-5 run to close out the first half.
At the half, the score was 46-29.
Going into the third quarter the Miners continued to show resilience. Junior guard N’Yah Boyd showed off her skills with a crossover that allowed sophomore forward Adhel Tac to post a layup. UTEP went on an 8-0 run once again to stretch the lead to 55-32 with 6:04 left in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was a bit of a struggle for the Miners as Texas Southern was able to cut the lead down a bit to 64-48, led by freshman shooting guard Micah Gray. Texas Southern outscored the Miners 23-16 due to a few trips to the free throw line. Although Texas Southern put-up big numbers in the fourth quarter it was not enough to complete the comeback.
The Miners beat the Tigers 80-65.
“Really proud of our team today,” Baker said. “It was definitely a team win. Coaches always want more than just the win. We always want more than what we get sometimes. A little disappointed that we gave up as many points as we did. I thought we lost our concentration in the fourth and we fouled about five or six times in a row down the floor, but that’s just the coach being overly critical. The positive things of the day were lots of great plays from a lot of talented people.”
Leading Texas Southern was freshman guard Taniya Lawson who had 11 points and four field goals made and Gray who recorded a season-high of 26 points for the Tigers. Gray also had eight field goals made and eight free throws made.
For UTEP, Boyd led the team with seven assists and recorded 14 points along with junior guard Jazion Jackson who recorded 12 points on the night with four rebounds and four steals. Leading the Miners was Montrose, she recorded a team-high of 23 points and went 9-of-18 from the floor.
The Miners will continue its home stretch with a game against Texas State University at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19 at the Don Haskins Center.
All stats for Texas Southern courtesy of Texas Southern Athletics, tsusports.com
All stats and quotes for UTEP courtesy of UTEP Athletics, utepminers.com
Katrina Villarreal is a staff reporter and may be reached at [email protected].
